This a guest blog post by Harriet Giffard-Tiney. Harriet has been working with me for three years, having started as an apprentice and worked her way up to being a super-duper right hand woman. She is currently studying Marketing and Advertising at Lancaster University, and also works as a freelance blogger and content creator. You…

This a guest blog post by Harriet Giffard-Tiney. Harriet has been working with me for three years, having started as an apprentice and worked her way up to being a super-duper right hand woman. She is currently studying Marketing and Advertising at Lancaster University, and also works as a freelance blogger and content creator. You…

This is a guest blog by Tracey Liot, of Acceler8. She specialises in helping owners of marketing services to acceler8 sales, get more clients and secure new business. You can contact Tracey on tracey@acceler8businessdevelopment.co.uk or 07545 842923, or visit her website at www.acceler8businessdevelopment.co.uk Do you want more leads and to acquire new clients? Do you find…

This is a guest blog from Dorte Kjaerulff, the fabulous photographer. Dorte runs Fotograf in Market Harborough, and specialises in lifestyle photography for businesses and families. Please click here to have a look at Dorte’s wonderful work, or follow her on Instagram. Do you struggle to come up with images for your marketing because you…

This is a guest blog written by Mark Coster of Pixooma. For more info about Mark and his design services, visit www.pixooma.co.uk. We’ve all seen people wearing obvious wigs (or in Donald Trump’s case, having real hair that looks like a wig), but did you know that Sean Connery wore a hairpiece in…

The BBC recently aired an episode of Panorama that aimed to lift the lid on what Facebook knows about you. It’s an intriguing discussion point, and one that I would hasten to guess the majority of users have no idea of. We create an account, and apart from tweaking a few minor privacy settings, we…

Blogging. I love it. I do it a lot and find it a really cathartic experience. But why does it matter, other than to keep me sane? I spoke to someone this week who contacted me for advice about their website. We had worked on some content last year but they needed the final push…

Facebook launched its Stories and My Day features a couple of months ago, but my question is does anyone care? When these features were launched on both Facebook and its sister platform Instagram, it was lauded as Facebook’s attempt to kill off Snapchat once and for all. But has it worked? My short answer is…

I was recently contacted by a local photographer, asking if I would be the subject of a photo-blog she wanted to create. Dorte Kjaerulff, of Fotograf in Market Harborough, took the headshots you see scattered around my website about 18 months ago. She thought I would be a good case study for her blog as I…

Believe it or not, this very nearly happened to me earlier this week. I was the customer, I hasten to add, and the venue I was at was all set to lose me and my associates over the price of a cup of tea. Yes, really. I was at a meeting venue in Derby for…

This is a guest post by Phil Partington of Productive Sales Professionals. For more info, visit www.psalesp.com or email phil.partington@psalesp.com I recently had a bash at creating an infographic to help me explain some of the steps in the Sales Process. It was an interesting experience for a non-graphic person. When I shared it with people, I found…

I know, I know. We all live in a world of tech and couldn’t survive without it. Me included. But… …Sometimes there is a place for stepping away from it all and just enjoying the surroundings. Just living your life and enjoying the experience. At the premier of Black Mass in Boston, a woman did…

Do you love what you do? Do you wake up each morning and think “yes!”, or do you have to peel yourself off your sheets and have ten cups of coffee before you can bring yourself to put finger to keyboard? This isn’t about whether or not you are a morning person; this is about…

My absolute main bugbear in life is lateness. I can’t abide it. If you agree to do something or be somewhere at a certain time, then don’t be late. It’s downright rude. Couple this with poor customer service and you have got one angry Libby. Let me explain. I recently sold my dining table and chairs…

The Spice Girls. Remember them? They burst onto the music scene in 1996 with their pop-tastic single Wannabe. I heard it on the radio the other day and, while I was singing along and doing the dance moves (what? You mean you don’t?), it set me thinking. I talk a lot about social media strategy,…

I work from home most of the time. I find it a more productive environment, with no distractions and just me and my mind and my focus (and cats). But that’s not to say that sometimes I don’t go a bit stir crazy with just my mind (and my cats) as company. Sometimes I just…

When you have a hotel stay coming up, you often get an automated email welcoming you along. Have you ever replied to one of these though? I did, and here’s what happened… Recently, I spent a few weeks in the States and had two stints staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, for…

Do you ever just do something really nice for your customers? Just because you love them? Today is Valentine’s Day and that often means businesses create some contrived offer (yeah, I’m a cynic!) flogging something from their bandwagon. It doesn’t have to be though. It can be a day to just do something nice. Like…

A friend of mine runs a very successful club. Occasionally, as with anything where people are involved, there are complaints from customers. Last night was such an occasion. My friend – let’s call him James – got a vicious attack posted on his Facebook page by a customer who felt he had been over-charged for…

This is a guest post from Dave Hall, writer for hire. For more information about Dave, visit https://www.facebook.com/davehallwriter/ 21st August 2013 I remember that date incredibly well. At the time, it didn’t seem much but three years on, it is up there as one of the worthiest days of my life, thus far. I’ve always…

I have just come back from Lake Como, in the north of Italy. It was beautiful: quiet and picturesque, with plenty of cheese, ham and Prosecco. We had a fabulous time, but one thing that really stuck me was the two different types of holiday maker that were there. 1: independent travellers who used our…

I’m not ashamed to say that I am a bit of a geek when it comes to technology. I love a cool gadget or a website that gives me a tool to save me time and effort. On the flip side, when things take longer than they should, it makes…

I am a Leicestershire girl, and this bank holiday weekend has been a feverish time of nerves and excitement for the county. You see, in case you haven’t heard, Leicester City have won the Premier League. I know! It’s crazy. So mad in fact, that I will say it again: LEICESTER CITY HAVE WON THE…

Facebook is becoming a tougher place to get engagement and interaction from fans. It used to be that a good picture and a couple of questions would be enough to score you a few enquiries, but not any more. Nope, those days are long gone. Nowadays, Facebook – and all social media – is a…

A month or so ago, I took a MASSIVE step out of my comfort zone and spent five days at a meditation retreat. I was curious to find out what all the fuss was about, so, armed with little more than a sense of trepidation and a good book, I found myself in a wooden…

I have been doing some admin today and unsubscribing from various email lists. I am on hundreds of lists, partly because the content may be interesting, and partly because I like to go through people’s sign up processes to see if I can pick up some good case studies. As part of my business’ spring…

I bought an item on eBay last week. It was well described, with the price and postage clearly listed, so I had no qualms about clicking to bid. I paid immediately when I won the auction (oh the thrill!), and was pleased when my package turned up a couple of days later. Before I opened…

Last night I went out for “one” drink after work with a friend. We hadn’t seen each other for a week or so, so had lots to catch up on. The first bottle of Prosecco disappeared pretty quickly, and food was thought to be a good idea. The place we were in – the local…

My new business cards arrived this morning. I ordered them from Moo, because I love some of their quirky designs, and I really wanted my new cards to be super-thick with a pink band running round the edge. It’s the little things that make me happy in life. The doorbell rang and I skipped downstairs…

I set up my business, Zest Communications, on 1st December 2011. It was a big thing for me. I had walked away from a really great management role in the public sector – good salary, 35 days’ leave plus bank hols – to start something of my own. Something that might sink or swim. But…